Fig. 3

Functional human parathyroid grafts had higher microvessel density and increased VEGF-A expression. a Human parathyroid tissues identified by H&E staining (write arrow, normal tissue; black arrow, abnormal tissue), and the normal tissues were transplanted into nude mice: 15 mice with fresh tissues and 6 mice with boiled tissues, resulting in 14 samples found in the fresh group and 3 samples in the boiled group. b The body weight of nude mice was comparable between the fresh and boiled groups. c Microvessel density (MVD) around parathyroid grafts was significantly higher in the fresh group compared with the boiled group (p = 0.0337). d–g. Serum levels of PTH (d, p = 0.0063), VEGF-A (e, p = 0.0048), TGF-β (f), and INF-β (g) were measured by ELISA. n ≥ 3; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. h Representative immunoblotting of vinculin, FGF2, TGF-β, and VEGF-A in the functional parathyroid grafts 5, 12, and 19 days after transplantation. i Quantification of relative protein levels of FGF2, TGF-β, and VEGF-A. TGF-β and VEGF-A were upregulated after transplantation, n = 3; **p < 0.01